Tainted Angel by Anne Cleeland

Author:Anne Cleeland [Cleeland, Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 2013-04-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25

It was turning evening when they approached the Mermaid Inn near Fairlight. Santos, Vidia thought, watching the countryside pass by the window; this one is going to be a bit more difficult than my usual. I am in the middle of nowhere and I cannot like how events are unfolding. She glanced at her companion’s profile, decided it was well worth the effort, and set her mind to the task ahead.

The inn was a few miles distant from Fairlight along the rugged coast, with woodland, heathland, and grassland alternately stretching back from the desolate cliffs. There was smuggling activity in the area and Vidia could see why this would be—the isolated area was perfect for such a pastime and she couldn’t imagine what else one did with oneself in this God-forsaken place. Perhaps I should take up smuggling to pass the time, she mused—how difficult can it be? I smuggled the ambassador in the laundry bag, after all. Or perhaps I could hold card parties to keep in practice—although it probably wouldn’t be seemly to cheat the neighbors. With a mental sigh, she acknowledged that she would have to become a pattern-card of respectability now that she was to be a wife and mother with a family to disgrace. This thought was almost as daunting as her present circumstances—she would bet her teeth that Carstairs was not telling her all that he knew and she would need to wrack her brains for a plan to make her way back to London when the Argo set sail. Pull yourself together, menina, she chided as the carriage lurched over the uneven road—this is nowhere near as difficult as killing off an entire company of Spaniards, one by one, with only a cart horse and a stolen pistol.

As the wheels rattled in the loose gravel, they pulled up to the inn’s coach yard, and with abject gratitude Vidia alighted from the carriage, stretching and looking around her—she was unaccustomed to long carriage rides. The modest establishment was two stories, with timbered walls and a reinforced roof that probably had been thatch, originally. Young ostlers took hold of the horses as the coachman issued instruction, and Carstairs escorted Vidia toward the inn’s entrance, the door a bit short as was the usual case with these ancient buildings, and topped by the wooden figure of a mermaid that was swinging in the stiff breeze. Carstairs ducked through the door and brought her into the warm interior that smelled of old wood and smoke. “We’ll stay here the night, then meet my family tomorrow—I didn’t want you to have to meet them after traveling all day, and it is best for your condition that we allow you to rest.”

“An excellent plan,” she agreed, allowing him to remove her cloak. No point in mentioning that when he made these arrangements he didn’t, in fact, believe she was pregnant. They approached the innkeeper’s desk, but almost immediately a servant who had been seated in the common room sprang up to intercept them.

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